Vehicles operating in an autonomous mode (e.g., driverless) can relieve occupants, especially the driver, from some driving-related responsibilities. When operating in an autonomous mode, the vehicle can navigate to various locations using onboard sensors, allowing the vehicle to travel with minimal human interaction or in some cases without any passengers.
Driving path trajectory planning is a critical operation in autonomous driving vehicles (ADVs). A feasible trajectory may be planned based on perceptions of obstacles and road information surrounding an ADV. Road information such as specific curvatures on the road and obscure markers on the road complicates driving path trajectory planning. A naïve solution is to find continuously midpoints of the edges of a road lane and to connect these mid points. This solution however generates sudden changes in a path trajectory.